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Phineas and Ferb Wiki:Newsletter submissions/Not-so-Retro Review: A Backstory Clip Show
Last issue, RRabbit42 mentioned how our friends Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh talked about the contest (as it were) between the writers and storyboarders at Phineas and Ferb to see who could come up with the most bizarre backstory of Heinz Doofenshmirtz's youth during last year's Comic-Con International panel in San Diego in his retro review of "Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror." This leads into a half-hour clip show (the last production of Season 3 for the record) telling pretty much all of the doctor's bizarre and not-so-bizarre moments called "This Is Your Backstory." I know what you're thinking: "Wait a sec, another clip show? Didn't they do one already?" Yes. Yes they did, it was called "Phineas' Birthday Clip-O-Rama!" to be exact. That's another review we have here in the archives...but, I digress. Our story starts with the boys playing table tennis (or as Ferb will tell you "Ping-Pong for the laymen") as Candace discovers the game while she talks to Stacy about why sponges are never needed at the bottom of the sea (a shot at a certain chipper sea sponge at another network with an orange color?) And after Candace asks the required missing platypus inquiry, we see Agent P flying toward Doofenshmirtz Evil Inc. and the fun begins. We learn of the parental abscence at his birth, the get introduced to Dr. Mortimer Shluesle, the doctor who brought him to life...and slaps him so see if he's breathing. Mom then comes out, and slaps him again. From there, we learn about the backstories (The Lawn Gnome, high diving - with a visit from his dad,his brother Roger appears as Heinx talks about wearing dresses after his birth, the claw machine district, kickball, Big Black Boots Boris the Bully, and Balloony) by keeping track on a Gnome-O-Meter handled by spokesmodel Vanna. (For all the game show fans out there, the Gnome-O-Meter resembles the Cliffhangers game on The Price is Right, while Vanna is a reference to Vanna White of Wheel of Fortune...or was it Ferb in a dress on Let's Take a Quiz?) Perry thinks that there's something rotten in Danville, and after the gut wrenching story of how he lost in science fairs (and a poetry slam) to baking soda volcanoes, Agent P discovers the truth: the whole scheme is all for a new inator about backstories, and is promptly trapped. Mama Ocelot (who raised Heinz after his parental unit dropped him like a bomb) also makes an appearance and is still more nurturing than his real mom ever was. Back at the Flynn-Fletcher backyard, the game of table tennis plays on and on, leading to a credit gag on a vortex which sucks everything up, except Candace, who walked away seconds earlier and returns to ask "Mom?" Returning to the D.E.Inc. building, just one more bad memory will activate his Backstory-Inator, when Vanessa arrives, and the good memories erase everything. She asks to borrow the car, and dad tosses her the keys. Well, time to reboot the machine. The story on how he came to America was a laugh riot as he mistook a painting of a schtor for a real one, and was on his way here, only to deboard just as a huge freight was dropped from above. And while in high school, created his "I Am a Superstar" viral video, and Doof seemed to remember deleting it from everyone's minds, but had not seen the auto-tuned like Justin Beiber remix, which has over ten billion hits (with only seven billion people on this planet, and five times more views than Gangnam Style mind you.) Which is a segue to a date with Linda, the future pop star one-hit-wonder and mom of Phineas and Candace. Leading to bratwurst sales, love interests (including a visit from Charlene with the alimony check) and all sorts of inators blowing up real good, but the need just one last over-the-top moment, provided by Perry, and then Perry shows his moments which implodes the backstory inator - and infuriates Vanna as she says that her lawyer will call him and also happens to be her boyfriend to pay for the shoes, and we have a mess of backstory everywhere. Our moral? Never let the facts get in the way of a good backstory. Not-so-Retro_Review:_A_Backstory_Clip_Show